My week in training

Week: July 11-17, 2016 | Location: Doncaster, South Yorkshire | Preparing for: Grand Prix of Wales, July 17 Wednesday, 2hr steady; race: 1hr crit

aving switched from swimming to cycling three years ago, when he was 15, Kieran Simcox is one of the rising young talents of Neon Velo. He has become a more familiar name this year, putting in some stand-out rides on the UK domestic scene, and featured in the breakaway at both the televised national series races, the Sheffield GP and Stafford Kermesse — impressive given he’s only 19. Here’s his training diary on a week he describes as “a fairly typical training week during race season, although it was lighter as I wanted to feel fresh for Wales.”

After racing Ryedale GP the day before, I had a lie-in and didn’t get up till mid-morning, and then did several jobs around the house. On my rest days, I like to spend time with my girlfriend; because the weather was good, we decided to go to Rother Valley for a gentle walk around the lake. I like to keep my feet up as much as possible on rest days, so after the walk, I chilled out at home and watched a movie. I went on the now-famous Donny chaingang with the likes of the Downing brothers and Tom Stewart in attendance, which makes it a good old tough training ride. This ride is three hours in length covering 62 miles, with two hours endurance at a fairly easy pace, then 30min of going through-and-off at race pace, followed by a sprint for the Epworth sign. The rest of the ride back was easy, with a quick cafe stop along the way. In the morning I went out for a steady two hours in zone two, as I had a race in the afternoon at Blyton Race Circuit. I rode around the flatter roads of Retford. In the afternoon, I cleaned my bike and sorted my kit out and went over to Blyton. In the one-hour circuit race, I attempted a few attacks but nothing was sticking, so it came down to a bunch sprint in which I managed third, which I was fairly happy with, being a climber.

Kieran Simcox